In a conversation with Tucker Carlson’s ultra-conservative website The Daily Caller earlier this week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that he is done answering questions about his father, former Republican Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul. The Kentucky Senator was interviewed while he was in Berkeley, CA. Paul was there to give a speech about his feelings regarding the overreach of the NSA and how it violates Americans’ privacy. His hopes are that his libertarian message can appeal to young liberals ahead of 2016.
Anyway, while speaking the the Caller’s Alex Pappas about his views on the NSA, the conversation steered towards Paul’s political views and how many feel he is identical to his father, who is essentially responsible for the birth of the Tea Party. Sen. Paul disputed that notion and stated that he is his own man with his own record to run on.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Below is the relevant excerpt from the article:
Asked in the interview how he thinks he is misunderstood politically by his critics, Paul paused for a few seconds. He then disputed the notion that he is “identical” to his father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, on all policy issues.
“I think over time, people will notice there are distinctions and differences,” he said.
Reporters sometimes ask Paul, he said, to comment on his father’s beliefs. But he said he’s done doing that. “I’ve pretty much quit answering” those questions.
“I’ve been in the Senate three years, and I have created a record of myself,” he said. “And I have my opinions.”
That is really rich. For the past couple of months, Paul has gone out of his way to bring Bill Clinton’s past marital indiscretions back into the current conversation. Not only has he discussed the Monica Lewinsky affair numerous times, he has openly stated that President Clinton is a ‘sexual predator’ and that he has used ‘violence’ towards women in the workplace. This has all been a transparent attempt by Paul to use Bill Clinton as a negative against his wife, Hillary Clinton. The former First Lady is the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee in 2016.
Paul’s declaration that his dad is off-limits and he just won’t answer questions about him is the very height of hypocrisy. It also shows how thin-skinned Paul really is. He can certainly dish it out, but only under his rules. Once the tables are reversed, he sings a totally different tune. In his mind, he should only be judged on his legislative record and nothing else. Hillary Clinton, not so much. What her husband did nearly twenty years ago is totally relevant today.
The irony is also thick regarding Paul’s position on this. The fact is, Paul’s resume is actually very light in comparison to Hillary Clinton’s. Prior to getting elected to the US Senate in 2010, Rand Paul had never held an elected office. His political activity revolved around an anti-tax organization that followed his father’s views. He also actively campaigned on his father’s behalf during the 2008 Presidential election. It would actually seem fair to bring up his father in discussions considering Rand Paul’s slight legislative history.
Meanwhile, after being First Lady during Bill Clinton’s tenure in the White House, Hillary Clinton served in the US Senate and was Secretary of State during President Obama’s first term in office. She actually has a much more substantial body of work than Rand Paul. On top of that, her husband’s personal indiscretions from the 1990’s have no real bearing on anything today. In the end, that is something personal between her and her husband that was only made into a national scandal due to who he is and Republicans’ insistence on finding something to nail him on back then.
Rand Paul feels he can make the rules and everyone will follow them. If he says he doesn’t want to talk about his daddy, then everyone must adhere to that. Meanwhile, if he wants to smear the former President of this country as a way to delegitimize Hillary Clinton ahead of 2016, then the media must follow his lead and report his rantings as fair and reasonable.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
